2012, easily the best season I've seen and I've been watching since ~1989. So many different winners (among which six teams), title fight up until the last race, great races like Malaysia where a still very young Perez almost won in a Sauber...

First 7 races won by the 7 different drivers (should have been 8 from 8 with Perez in Malaysia)McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, Williams, Lotus and Red Bull all winning races. Force India and Sauber could both have too but for bad luck.7 WDC on the grid (current or future)When the 9th best team on the grid has drivers as good as Vergne and Ricciardo, you know it's a good season.Going to Spa and seeing Jenson boss the whole weekend.Title decided in rain soaked chaos in Brazil.Kobayashi!

2003 was extremely competitive. You never knew before a race weekend who would be quickest. There was a general pecking order but it fluctuated from race to race. Ferrari, Williams, McLaren and to some extent Renault were all regularly capable of challenging for race wins.

2003 had a very high concentration of great races. Australia, Brazil, Britain, USA, and Japan were all classics. Malaysia, San Marino, Monaco, Canada, Austria, Europe, and Germany were also good 7/10 races that told a story.

For purely sentimental reasons it has to be 1987 for me - and it's really based on just one race if I'm honest (British GP at Silverstone), so it probably wasn't even a particularly great season and I'm just remembering it through rose-tinted glasses.

It was the first year I went to a Grand Prix and was by far and away the best race I've ever watched from the track.

I was a Williams supporter then (still am now) and to see Mansell claw back half a minute with around 30 laps to go to take the lead over team mate Piquet was breathtaking. Every single lap he was getting closer and closer. I was stood on Stowe Corner and the crowd exploded when he passed Piquet down the hangar straight.

Last edited by SteveW on Thu Oct 26, 2017 1:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

But if I was to choose just one season in recent history ( I can go a long ways back) it had to be 1998 when Ferrari and McLaren, with Schumacher and Hakkinen waged a year long battle. Each team was at the peak of it's form, the cars constantly switched on which was quicker, and some grand strategies were played out every race.

As an aside whilst commentating during Austin and on viewing Hakkinen on the TV live feed Brundle said he was his fastest teammate, and he had partnered Senna and Schumacher, always on it was I believe the phrase he used.

This is probably a rose-tinted reflection. I was just a schoolboy at the time but 1986 was the year that I became a genuine fan of Our Nige. I'd seen the 1985 season but it was 1986 that really caught my attention, not least the battle with Piquet, Prost and Senna.I even remember setting the alarm whilst my brother and I were staying at our Gran's so we could watch him be crowned champion at Adelaide... only to see that tyre blowout!

Slightly longer sentences: Last season for legends like Fittipaldi, Scheckter, Regazzoni and Depailler, as well as Shadow team in that beautiful black sleek car... First season for legends like Prost and Mansell. Change of the generations make this season a true gem.

2003 was extremely competitive. You never knew before a race weekend who would be quickest. There was a general pecking order but it fluctuated from race to race. Ferrari, Williams, McLaren and to some extent Renault were all regularly capable of challenging for race wins.

2003 had a very high concentration of great races. Australia, Brazil, Britain, USA, and Japan were all classics. Malaysia, San Marino, Monaco, Canada, Austria, Europe, and Germany were also good 7/10 races that told a story.

2003 was a less artificial version of 2012.

2003 for me too, especially as a Kimi fan. It’s the season that got me back into F1 and I’ve missed maybe 3-4 races live since then. 2001-2002 I think I missed about half the races for the only time ever as an F1 fan. Looking back I’m not sure how i made it through 2004

1998, 2007,2008,2010,2012 honourable mentions, I also really enjoyed 2014 but I suppose you needed to be a Hamilton or Rosberg fan for that.

2003 was extremely competitive. You never knew before a race weekend who would be quickest. There was a general pecking order but it fluctuated from race to race. Ferrari, Williams, McLaren and to some extent Renault were all regularly capable of challenging for race wins.

2003 had a very high concentration of great races. Australia, Brazil, Britain, USA, and Japan were all classics. Malaysia, San Marino, Monaco, Canada, Austria, Europe, and Germany were also good 7/10 races that told a story.

2003 was a less artificial version of 2012.

2003 for me too, especially as a Kimi fan. It’s the season that got me back into F1 and I’ve missed maybe 3-4 races live since then. 2001-2002 I think I missed about half the races for the only time ever as an F1 fan. Looking back I’m not sure how i made it through 2004

1998, 2007,2008,2010,2012 honourable mentions, I also really enjoyed 2014 but I suppose you needed to be a Hamilton or Rosberg fan for that.

Not an outright fan of either driver, but 2014 was the year i first started to take an interest in F1- so it's the season i would choose.

A Ligier 1-2 for a short time in Detroit, before an eventual Senna victory

Last few laps at Hockenheim- fuel dramas for everyone

Piquet v Senna at the first ever GP behind the iron curtain...the birth of the Hungaroring

Benetton (previously known as Toleman) on pole at Austria and Italy thanks to Teo Fabi

Berger's first win - the first Mexican Grand Prix at the rebuilt Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, in a Benetton BMW

And of course....Adelaide. One of the most memorable ends to a championship at the finest street circuit of them all (okay I'm biased and was there), culminating in Prost's best championship victory IMO

I was reluctant to choose 1986 because we lost Elio de Angelis, as well as 1982 becaseu we lost Gilles Villeneuve and Riccardo Paletti. Other than that they were very fine seasons.

1982 - Lauda comeback with glorious Long Beach and Brands Hatch victories. Keke Rosberg winning in most inferior ever car to win the championship. Prost excelling in fine driving, just to be denied by that breaking Renault. Patrese, Alboreto and De Angelis getting their first victories, the later winning thus the last victory for Champan who died some months later. Andretti's comeback with pole and podium in Monza, very memorable. Pity that he did not practice starts, that's where he lost the victory. But there were big shadows over Imola dispute, Kyalami driver strike and of course, aforementioned tragedies in Zolder and Montreal.

Took some time to think about this one, but for me it has to be 1982. That year had EVERYTHING! Triumph, tragedy, technical innovation, returning legends, monster drives from the back of the grid to victory, a variety of different winners in a variety of different cars. While not exactly on the OP's point, 1982 was also a great year for open wheel racing in the States with CART really living up to the promise of the "Gurney White Paper." Penskes, Wildcats, Eagles, and Marches duked it out in relative equality, but with the teams that built their own chassis still gaining an advantage for doing so.

Back to F1, 1982 was the last year of ground effect, which had matured to become a great equalizer of cars. Although the skirt regulations made the cars uncomfortable to drive, it allowed the turbo/non-turbo battle to flourish, with an equal number of wins on both sides. It also allowed the cars to follow each other much better then at any time since. Villeneuve's and Pironi's battle at San Marino was epic, regardless of one's feelings about the outcome. Electronic engine management, which plays such an important role today, was first put to good use by Ferrari this year, while Renault could not make their similar system work reliably enough to win either championship (despite four wins and numerous pole positions). Pull rod suspensions with rising rate geometry were finally adopted by more teams than just Brabham. Lauda came out of a two-year retirement and won two races. Andretti came out of retirement to take a dramatic pole at the Italian Grand Prix in a Ferrari. There was a tire war with three different manufacturers. John Watson won on the twisty Detroit street circuit from 17th on the grid, and had a similar drive in Belgium from 10th on the grid. Who can forget the DeAngelis/Rosberg duel in Austria, or Alboreto's first win at the season finale in Las Vegas (50:1 odds at most casinos against that happening)? Although he later broke down, Derrek Warrick's pass on championship leader Pironi for 2nd place at the British Grand Prix while driving the unfancied Tolman TG181B/Hart turbo on similarly unfancied Pirelli tires was another high point. Not to be forgotten, there were the tragedies of Villeneuve's and Paletti's deaths, and Pironi's career ending crash. Of course, Keke Rosberg coming out of relative obscurity to maximize his opportunities and win the championship at the last race of the season underlined his gritty determination all year and really put the icing on the cake. Out of 16 races, there were 11 different winners with no one winning more than 2 races. We will never see another season like it.

2005, 2012, 2016.The first one is obvious, I loved the fight between 3 fast cars and amazing drivers. 2012, because it has been an unpredictable one, Kimi came back, the front was kinda even, and in the end I think Vettel deserved to win.Finally, I loved 2016 for various reasons, the rise of Verstappen, the title fight between Nico and Lewis (and I felt like Nico winning was fair, based on their respective achievement at Mercedes).

Paolo_Lasardi wrote:

2017 would have stood a chance if Vettel had not thrown away three races due to two stupid driver errors (if not deliberate crashing) and one unnecessary hard and risky squeeze.

1990 for me. I was only five years old from Australia, my older brother used too tape the races for me. I would rush home from school on Monday night too watch those epic battles between man and machine. The cars were stunning to watch, the tracks were bumpy, fast, cars were loud and Murray walker and James hunt built excitement.

_________________"There's nothing wrong with the car except that it's on fire".Murray Walker

2005, 2012, 2016.The first one is obvious, I loved the fight between 3 fast cars and amazing drivers. 2012, because it has been an unpredictable one, Kimi came back, the front was kinda even, and in the end I think Vettel deserved to win.Finally, I loved 2016 for various reasons, the rise of Verstappen, the title fight between Nico and Lewis (and I felt like Nico winning was fair, based on their respective achievement at Mercedes).

Paolo_Lasardi wrote:

2017 would have stood a chance if Vettel had not thrown away three races due to two stupid driver errors (if not deliberate crashing) and one unnecessary hard and risky squeeze.

This tasteless remark is useless and off-topic.

Well, the second Baku crash was deliberate, so it is merely pointing at facts.

Started watching in 1995, went off F1 a bit during the mid 00s, came back in 2012.

2012 is the best I've seen. 2013 would have been a classic as well were it not for the imminent rule changes. I still think Vettel's dominance of the 2nd half of the season was down to their improvement at Spa, and everyone else noping out of challenging them in favour of focusing on 2014.

For me the most memorable F1 seasons were 1989 and 1990. You knew that you were watching two of the all time greats battling for supremacy. I didn't much like the outcomes of the two Japanese Grands Prix that settled both championships, but the season long battles were magnificent.

The current career long battle between Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton has been shaping up to fully rival the Prost/Senna rivalry. Still as it is far from done and only starting to approach the tipping point one way or the other. I am guessing that the next few years could easily be looked at by historians as a new golden era for Formula One and the battle of Vettel v. Hamilton as one for the ages.

1976 - Niki Lauda and James Hunt - back then following F1 in America was not something many did visually, as F1 races were not shown on TV as they are today live, but mostly on delayed coverage. I still recall Niki's crash that day at the Nürburgring (ABC Wide World of Sports, IIRC - not live) and his miraculous recovery and comeback to the Ferrari seat finishing 4th at the Italian GP a mere 6 weeks later. Again, IIRC, the 1976 West German Grand Prix was the last time Grand Prix F1 cars ever raced at the old Nürburgring, (a real monster of track in F1 racing history).

Jame Hunt also won the XI Race of Champions @ Brands Hatch and the XXVIII British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) International Trophy race @ Silverstone that year.

could have all won races that season. Car performance swung so wildly from track to track. Schumacher almost one the title in a car that I thin was probably 4th quickest and you never new who would compete for the win from race to race.

1998- Incredible performances from Schumacher, a new star is born in Mika, title fight down to the wire.

2000- Because SCHUMI!!!! First Ferrari WDC since 1979. Also, the great battles with Mika and DC, and some great performances from drivers further down the grid, like Villeneuve, Frentzen, and Fisichella.

2002- Because SCHUMI!!!!

2003- 8 different winners, some of the best racing I can remember seeing in F1.

2004- Because SCHUMI!!!!

2007- Great title fight, and remarkable comeback from Kimi to steal the crown from Alonso and Lewis.

2008- Incredible season, many dramatic moments, best finish to a season EVAR!

2010- Full of suspense and intrigue, dramatic finish, all made possible by the fact that both Vettel and Red bull were not ready for such a dominant car (Vettel himself said after dominating in 2011 that the 2010 car had a bigger gap to the competition than the 2011 one did, this after winning over twice as many races in 2011 than he did in 2010!!)

2012- So many winners (including Williams!! ), great title fight, dramatic finish

_________________"No, there is no terrible way to win. There is only winning."Jean-Pierre Sarti